Methods and apparatus to provide a telephone system configuration interface

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for a telephone customer to configure telephone service for multiple users at a single location associated with the customer. The location has at least two telephones, at least two phone numbers and a voice mail box. The telephone customer is visually provided an option to assign one of the phone numbers to one of the telephones. The telephone customer is visually provided an option to assign each of the multiple users exclusive access to at least one of the telephone numbers via their account identifier. The telephone customer is visually provided the option to, for each of the multiple users, allow access or deny access via their account identifier to the voicemail box.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to telephone systems, and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to provide a telephone systemconfiguration interface.

BACKGROUND

As the sophistication of phone service has increased, consumers, such assubscribers/users, have the ability to install multiple phones in aresidence or small business. Such phones may be land line telephones(i.e., telephones that are hardwired to a telephone network) or may bemobile telephones (e.g., cellular telephones or the like). Additionally,these phones may have multiple shared phone numbers associated withindividual phones or each phone may have its own separate private phonenumber. Further, services such as voicemail boxes may be associated withan individual private phone or shared phones.

The numerous combinations of telephones, telephone numbers, and servicesmust be initially configured to insure that all phone, phone number, andservices (e.g., voicemail box options) are properly associated with oneanother. Furthermore, as the needs of subscribers/users change, thetelephones, telephone numbers, and services may need to be reconfigured.In terms of initial configuration, a Consumer Voice over InternetProtocol (CVoIP) product, which routes consumer telephone calls overInternet Protocol (IP) networks requires set up including mappingcustomer Single Sign-On (SSO) within a household to telephones andvoicemail boxes. One challenge is to automate the configurationprocesses and/or the reconfiguration processes, while at the same timeobeying the business rules for CVoIP and voicemail.

Currently, the set up of telephone service, voicemail boxes, etc. fordifferent users in the same household requires expertise from theservice provider. This service is costly in terms of resources andcreates antagonism by a customer if the service is inadequate oruntimely. Further, such service may require information from a customerthereby inconveniencing the customer who must be present when service isinitiated. Customers may set up the voicemail and telephone services,but currently customers cannot set up voicemail and telephone servicesspecific to a particular user in a household for whom it is desired tohave different services or access to different voicemail boxes. That is,consumer (i.e., home) telephone services provide only a single level ofaccess during which full system access is allowed. For example, aconsumer telephone service conventionally includes only a single loginthat provides any person logging in with the ability to configure orreconfigure systems and/or services. Such a full access-typeconfiguration prevents segmentation between users of a particularconsumer system. Thus, users either have complete and total control overthe system or no control whatsoever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example broadband service networksystem.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of an example customer premises in theexample broadband service network system of FIG. 1 with the initialinstallation of example VoIP telephones.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of the example customer premises in FIG. 2Aafter an example configuration entered by a customer using an examplecustomer premises telephone system set up interface.

FIG. 3 is a screen shot of the first screen of the example customerpremises telephone system set up interface.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of an example interface screen for selectingusers in the customer premises telephone system set up interface.

FIGS. 5A-5C are screen shots of example interface screens for assigningphones to users as shared or private phones in the customer premisestelephone system set up interface.

FIGS. 6A-6C are screen shots of example interfaces that allow a user torecord a voicemail greeting in the customer premises telephone systemset up interface.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example apparatus to implementthe configuration entered by a customer using the example customerpremises telephone system set up interface.

FIGS. 8A-8B are flow diagrams of an example process followed by certaincomponents of the telephone system such as the example apparatus of FIG.7 to implement the configuration entered by a customer using the examplecustomer premises telephone system set up interface.

FIG. 9 is an example processor which may be used to implement theexample interfaces in FIGS. 3-6 and/or the implementation of theconfigurations in FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, example methods and apparatus for a telephone system set upinterface are disclosed. In one example, a method for providing atelephone related service allowing a telephone subscriber to configuretelephone service for multiple users at a single location associatedwith the telephone subscriber, the single location having a plurality oftelephones, a plurality of phone numbers and a shared voicemail box, themultiple users each having a unique account identifier, includesvisually providing the telephone subscriber an option to specify one ofthe phone numbers to one of the telephones; and visually providing thetelephone subscriber an option to assign each of the multiple usersexclusive access to at least one of the telephone numbers via theiraccount identifier.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example broadband service network system10. The broadband service network system 10 allows for the service andoperation of multiple communication devices such as a cellular telephone12 and a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone 14, each belonging toa customer or multiple customers. The telephones 12 and 14 are merelyfor example purposes, and it is to be understood that the cellular phone12 may be any wireless device such as a cell phone or personal digitalassistant (PDA) and the VoIP phone 14 may be any VoIP device such as asound card or other hardware used in conjunction with a personalcomputer, a universal serial bus (USB) phone or a Bluetooth wirelessphone. It is to be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art thateach phone 12 and 14 may represent multiple devices of the same generalconfiguration used by many other customers. The VoIP phone 14 and otherdevices such as VoIP phones 16, 18 and 20 are located in a customerpremises 22. The VoIP phones 14, 16, 18 and 20 each have differentassigned phone numbers in this example. It is to be understood, that anynumber of different phones or other IP based or other communicationsdevices may be installed in the customer premises 22. Alternatively, thecustomer premises 22 may have a single phone.

The cellular telephone 12 receives signals from and sends signals to awireless network 32, while the VoIP phones 14, 16, 18 and 20 send to andreceive IP signals from a VoIP network 34. In this example, both thewireless network 32 and the VoIP network 34 are coupled to an IPmulti-media subsystem (IMS) core 36. The IMS is an open, standardized,operator friendly, Next Generation Networking (NGN) multi-mediaarchitecture for mobile and fixed IP services. The IMS in this exampleis a VoIP implementation based on a third generation partnership project(3GPP) variant of session initiation protocol (SIP), and runs over thestandard Internet protocol (IP). It may be used by telecommunicationsoperators in NGN networks that combine voice and data in a single packetswitched network, to offer network controlled multi-media services. TheIMS core 36 is designed to provide Internet services for all customersof the IMS core 36 on different devices such as the VoIP phone 14 inFIG. 1. The example IMS core 36 uses open standard IP protocols allowingthe merger of the Internet with cellular systems, using cellulartechnologies to provide ubiquitous access and Internet technologies toprovide other services.

In this example, the IMS core 36 has an Application ProgrammingInterface (API), which is an open service access (OSA)/gateway (GW) 38,providing an interface for different programs exchanging data. Forexample the OSA/GW 38 can support telephone protocols (e.g., Parlay) ora multimedia communication protocol (e.g., session initiation protocol(SIP)). Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatdifferent cores may be used for the wireless network 32 and the VoIPnetwork 34.

The example IMS core 36 of FIG. 1 includes a call server 40 and a callmanager 42. The call server 40 represents different SIP servers orproxies that are collectively termed CSCF (Call Server ControlFunction). CSCF elements are used to process SIP signaling packetswithin the IMS core 36 from the VoIP phones such as the VoIP phones 14,16, 18 and 20 and perform session control. The call manager 42 providesa web services interface to external applications which are used to setprofile information and configure customer phones.

The IMS core 36 is in communication with a mediation database server 44which stores identification and customer account information used by theIMS core 36. The mediation database server 44 is the master userinformation database supporting the IMS network elements involved incall processing and sessions. The mediation database server 44 containsprofile information, manages user authentication and authorization, andphysical SIP endpoint location information. The profile informationincludes customer account information such as the identity and number ofphone users, telephone numbers and voicemail boxes associated with acustomer account.

The call manager 42 of the IMS core 36 is coupled via web communicationprotocols such as hypertext transfer protocol (http) and/or hypertexttransfer protocol security (https) to the world wide web 50. The IMScore 36 may draw customer instructions from various portals such as aVoIP service provider portal 52, a wireless service provider portal 54and an Internet content provider portal 56. Of course, other portals maybe provided that allow customers to reset their options for the variousservices. Different customers may access the portals 52, 54 and 56 viaweb browser devices such as a personal computer 58. Of course, other webbrowser capable devices such as cell phones, PDAs, etc. may be used toaccess the portals 52, 54 and 56.

The mediation database server 44 also communicates with portals such asportals 52, 54 and 56 to send and receive customer information to andfrom the portals. The mediation database server 44 communicates with anInternet based multi-media support network 60 with a network managementsystem (NMS) and an operational support system (OSS) to supportfunctions such as billing, network management, repairs and servicing. Inthis example, the network management system is the SBC Lightspeednetwork, but other network management systems may be used for supportingInternet based multi-media services.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of an example household such as the customerpremises 22 in FIG. 1 after the initial installation of the VoIP phones14, 16, 18 and 20. In this example, each of the phones 14, 16, 18 and 20has a separate phone number. Each of the phones 14, 16, 18 and 20 allowsaccess to a common voicemail box 62. Each of the phone numbers isassociated with separate users 64, 66, 68 and 70 respectively. The users64, 66, 68 and 70 are each associated with a customer account withseparate identification information such as a user ID stored in themediation database 42. One user, such as the user 64, is responsible forthe customer account (i.e., receives the bills) and thus is authorizedto request service changes and configurations for any of the phones 14,16, 18 and 20 and any of the users 64, 66, 68 and 70. The users 64, 66,68 and 70 may have access to different telephones such as the phones 14,16, 18 and 20, different telephone numbers and different voicemail boxesvia their customer identification information. Further each of the users64, 66, 68 and 70 may be granted the ability to change and/or accessdifferent telephone features including, for example, long distanceservice, 1-900 numbers, ringtones, call forwarding and conferencecalling.

At the initial installation, all features relating to the VoIP phones14, 16, 18 and 20 are associated with the user 64 for the customerpremises 22 and are equally accessible to all of the users 66, 68 and 70who are associated with the customer account.

As will be described below, a customer such as the user 64 in theexample customer premises 22 may use a set up interface to configure theVoIP phones 14, 16, 18 and 20 as well as the voicemail box 62 and set upseparate voicemail boxes for each of the persons 64, 66, 68 and 70. Theset up interface allows many different configurations of phone numbers,private and public phones, voicemail boxes and greetings and otherservices to set up the use of the phones 14, 16, 18 and 20 on thecustomer premises 22 and the access by each of the persons 64, 66, 68and 70 according to their individual user IDs. The set up interface mayalso allow the user 64 to grant, deny and/or restrict access to othertelephone features and services for each of the other users 66, 68 and70. Depending on the access granted, each of the other users 66, 68 and70 may individually configure phone service for their particularidentification information. For example, if the user 66 is allowedaccess to change a voicemail box greeting, the user 66 may change thegreeting by providing the proper identification information. Theconfigurations are set via the interface which is available on a webbrowser device such as the computer 58 in FIG. 1 by accessing a portalsuch as the VoIP service provider portal 52 and are storing theconfigurations in the mediation database 44 for implementation by theIMS core 36.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of the example customer premises 22 after oneexample set up of the phones 14, 16, 18 and 20 has been performed by thehead of the household such as the person 64. In this example, the phones14, 16, 18 and 20 have been configured to access different voicemailboxes and to be shared among different people. The new configurationshown in FIG. 2B allows the person 64 to share access to the phone 14with the person 66. The common voicemail box 62 has been configured tobe accessible from the phone 14 for the persons 64 and 66. A newsecondary voicemail box 72 has been set up. The person 66 now has accessto the phone 14 as well as private access to the phone 16. Both thephone 14 and phone 16 have been configured to allow access to thesecondary voicemail box 72 for use by the person 66.

The person 68 has private access to the phone 18 and private access to anew configured common voicemail box 74. The phone 20 has been configuredto allow the person 68 and the person 70 to have access to the phone 20.The phone 20 has been configured to allow access to the common voicemailbox 72 for the person 70. The phone 20 allows access to a new secondaryvoicemail box 76 for the person 70. Further, different phone servicesmay be enabled for the phones 14, 16, 18 and 20 which are accessible tothe different users 64, 66, 68 and 70 on supplying their accountinformation.

FIG. 3 is a screen shot of an example of a customer interface 200generated by the example VoIP service provider portal 52 and displayedfor a customer on a web browser enabled device such as the examplepersonal computer 58 in FIG. 1. The personal computer 58 in FIG. 1 maybe located in the customer premises 22 in FIG. 1 or may be off site. Thecustomer interface 200 is accessible by a customer who is responsiblefor the customer account such as the person 64 in FIG. 2A via entry of auser identification and password or other security verification. Theuser interface 200 allows the customer to configure the telephones andservices at the customer premises 22 via commands to the IMS core 36 tocontrol access to phones and/or voicemail boxes which are associatedwith the customer account. It is to be understood that other adjustmentsand information such as service requests, billing, quality of servicereporting, etc. may be made via the VoIP service provider portal 52 onthe customer interface 200 or similar interfaces.

The customer interface 200 is a graphical user interface that includes amain menu options area 202 containing different options for othercustomer services and/or display of customer account information. Theuser interface 200 includes a user selection window 210. The userselection window 210 includes a name column 212 and an accountidentifier column 214. The name column 212 lists the names of the users(persons 64, 66, 68 and 70) in the customer premises 22 and the accountidentifier column 214 lists an account identifier such as an e-mailaddress associated with each person. The interface 200 obtains the usernames and account identifiers from the database server 44 via the portal52. The name column 208 initially lists the names of the user who isresponsible for the customer account and a series of blank name fields216. The user may enter the name or names of additional users, forexample members of the household in the customer premises 22 in thefields blank 216. These names and their associated account identifierswill be displayed in the account identifier column 214. A check box 218allows the customer to select the user name(s) of the user(s) who willuse the telephones and have access to a voicemail box. The initial setup window area 204 also includes a next button 220, a cancel button 222and a reset button 224 to navigate throughout the different windowswhich will be detailed below. Selecting the next button 220 will causethe customer interface 200 to display the next configuration window suchas a phone number set up window 250 in FIG. 4. Selecting the cancelbutton 222 will cause the entered information in the window to beerased. Selecting the reset button 224 will cause the fields to revertto the previous setting. A complete later button 226 allows the customerto complete the configuration at a later point in time.

FIG. 4 shows an example phone number set up window 250 that is displayedin the customer interface 200 after the names of the users are enteredin the user selection window 210 in FIG. 3. The user interface 200 alsoincludes a previous button 228 which, when selected, returns to theprevious configuration window (user selection window 210 in thisexample). The phone number set up window 250 includes an instructionarea 254 including instructions to the user and/or information regardingthe phone numbers that are associated with the account. The informationregarding the phone numbers and phones is taken from the database server44. In this example, the instruction area 254 indicates there are fourphones and associated numbers with the customer account. A telephonenumber column 256 lists the phone numbers that are associated with theaccount. The listing of telephone numbers may be telephone numbersassociated with household telephones (e.g., landline telephones), VoIPtelephones, and/or mobile telephones. Each of the listed phone numbershas a shared button 258 and a private phone button 260. By selecting theshared button 258 for the each of the listed phone numbers, the customermay designate the phone associated with the phone number in thetelephone number column 256 as associated with multiple users. Byselecting the private phone button 260 for each of the listed phonenumbers, the customer may designate the phone associated with the phonenumber in the telephone number column 256 as associated with a singleuser. Each telephone number also has an associated text field 262 whichmay be filled in by the customer to identify or describe each phonenumber. For example, a phone number may be described by the location ofthe associated phone.

If the user selects any phone number which will be a shared number, aseries of configuration windows are displayed as shown in FIGS. 5A-5C bythe customer interface 200. FIG. 5A shows a sharing configuration window280 which includes an all share option 282 and an assignment option 284.The all share option 282 configures all the shared numbers to all usersin the household. Selecting the assignment option 284 results in thedisplay of a user sharing configuration window 300 as shown in FIG. 5Bin the customer interface 200.

The user sharing configuration window 300 in FIG. 5B includes a mainnumber user list field 302, a second number user list field 304 and athird number user list field 306. Initially, the main number user listfield 302 has a list of all the users associated with the customeraccount. The user list field 302 and the user list field 304 are eachassociated with a phone number which the user had previously designatedas shared in the phone number set up window 250 in FIG. 4. The user listfield 306 is associated with the phone numbers which the user hadpreviously designated as private in the phone number set up window 250.By using a move button 308, the user may assign a particular user to aparticular list field such as the user list field 304 and thereby givethat user sharing privileges to that phone. The user list field 306lists users which will be assigned a private phone.

FIG. 5C shows a private phone set up window 330 in the customerinterface 200. The private phone set up window 330 has a private phonecolumn 332 listing all the phones that were designated as private in thephone set up window 250 in FIG. 4. The private phone set up window 330includes a telephone number column 334 which lists the respective phonenumbers next to the phones in the private phone column 332. A user pulldown menu field 336 is located next to each of the phone numbers in thetelephone number column 334. The user pull down menu 336 includes eachuser name in the customer premises 22 which was designated as a privatephone user in the user sharing configuration window 300 in FIG. 5B. Thecustomer selects the user name to be associated with the listed privatephone from the user pull down menu 336.

FIG. 6A shows an example general voicemail box set up window 350 whichis displayed by the user interface 200 after the initial names of usersare entered. The voicemail set up window 350 includes an instructionarea 352 which includes instructions on setting up a voicemail messageand the identification of the phone number to which the voicemail box isbeing assigned. A name column 354 lists the names of the users enteredin the phone number set up window 350 in FIG. 4 above. The first name isthe user who is responsible for the customer account and assigned to thefirst voicemail box. Each following name includes an associated pulldown menu 356 which includes the mail box numbers available. Thecustomer assigns a mailbox number to the names by selecting the mail boxnumber in the pull down menu 356.

FIG. 6B shows an example voicemail identification set up window 380which is displayed by the customer interface 200 after the mailboxes areassigned in the voicemail box general set up window 350 in FIG. 6A. Thevoicemail identification set up window 380 includes an information area382 which indicates the phone number of the voicemail box which is beingset up. The window 380 includes a name column 384 and a mail box column386. The name column 384 shows the names of users and associated mailboxes in the mail box column 386. Each mail box listing has a personalidentification (PIN) number field 388 which allows the customer to entera PIN for accessing the associated voicemail box.

FIG. 6C shows a voicemail message set up window 400 which is displayedto a customer assuming that the personal computer has a microphone forrecording a message to be stored with the associated mailbox at themedia content server 44 in FIG. 1. The voicemail message set up window400 has a set of recording controls 402 which enable a user to input avoicemail message to an attached microphone. The set up window 400includes instructions regarding entry of a voicemail greeting bycomputer entry and by phone entry. The set up window 400 also indicatesthe phone number associated with the voicemail box. The recordingcontrols include a record symbol 404, a stop symbol 406, a play symbol408, a volume slider 410 and a time slider 412. Selecting the recordsymbol 404 enables the microphone to record a message for associationwith the mail box. The stop symbol 406 stops the recording. The playsymbol 408 plays the message recording. The time slider 412 allows forthe playback of the recorded message.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that other featuresand services including, for example, long distance service, 1-900numbers, ringtones, call forwarding and conference calling, may beconfigured for the users such as the users 66, 68 and 70 by the primaryaccount holder such as the user 64 via input screens similar to those inFIGS. 5-6. For example, features and services may be made available to aparticular user. Other features and services may be made available andthe particular user may be given the ability to configure the featureand/or service to their own personal preference using their accountinformation. For example, if a user is given the option for a differentringtone, the user can adjust the ringtone via their customeridentification.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example apparatus 450 to implement theconfiguration provided by the customer via the user interface 200 shownin FIGS. 3-6. The apparatus 450 may, for example, be implemented by alogic circuit in communication with or integral to the IMS core 36, ormay be implemented by software and/or firmware executed by components ofthe IMS core 36 such as the call server 40 and/or the call manager 42.The example apparatus 250 includes a customer data interface 252, aconfiguration command interface 254, an account verifier 256, a phoneuser setup module 258, a voice mail setup module 260 and a service setupmodule 262. The customer data interface 252 exchanges data with thedatabase server 44 and is coupled to the configuration command interface254 and the account verifier 256. The configuration command interface254 exchanges data from a web portal such as the VoIP service providerportal 52 and sends configuration data to the phone user setup module258, the voice mail setup module 260 and the service configurationmodule 262. The phone user setup module 258, the voice mail setup module260 and the service configuration module 262 all configure phone servicevia the call manager 42 in accordance to customer configurations enteredvia the user interface 200 shown in FIGS. 3-6.

FIGS. 8A-8B are flow diagrams of an example process used in response tothe user interface 200 shown in FIGS. 3-6 by the apparatus 450 of theIMS core 36 to configure the call server 40 and call manager 42 for theVoIP phones of a customer account such as that of the customer premises22 in FIG. 1. The customer first accesses the customer interface 200described above via the VoIP service provider portal 52. The customerenters identification information including a password which is sent tothe account verifier 256 of the apparatus 450 via the portal 52 toauthenticate the customer and allow access to the account (block 500).The customer data interface 252 first determines the account informationassociated with the customer including the number of phones in thepremises, the phone numbers associated with the phones and the names ofother users associated with the customer account from the databaseserver 44 (block 501). After the portal displays the user selectionwindow 210 in the customer interface 200 in FIG. 3 and the customerselects the user names for the phones, the configuration commandinterface 254 reads the selected user names (block 502). The customerdata interface 252 retrieves account identifications for the selecteduser names from the database server 44 for the display on the userinterface 200 (block 504).

After the customer enters the other user names, the user names are sentfrom the portal 52 to the configuration command interface 254 and to thedatabase server 44 via the customer data interface 252 to be stored withthe account information (block 506). The configuration command interface254 then begins with the phone numbers in the account and receives thecustomer selection from the phone number set up window 250 in FIG. 4 toset the phone number as a private phone or a shared phone (block 508).The configuration command interface 254 then determines whether the userhas designated a phone as a private phone (block 510). If the phone is aprivate phone, the customer enters the user name associated with thephone in the private phone set up window 330 in FIG. 5C for the phoneuser setup module 258 and for storage in the database server 44 via thecustomer data interface 252 (block 512). The configuration commandinterface 254 then determines whether there are remaining phonesassociated with the customer account (block 514). If there are remainingphones, the IMS core 36 loops back to block 510 to record the status ofthe users of that phone.

If the phone is not a private phone, the configuration command interface254 determines if the customer has selected the option for all users toshare the phone from the sharing configuration window 280 in FIG. 5A(block 516). If the phone is shared, the phone number is set to beshared by all the users associated with the account via the phone usersetup module 258 (block 518). If the phone is not shared, theconfiguration command interface 254 reads the input names associatedwith the phone as entered by the user in the user sharing configurationwindow 300 in FIG. 5B and the phone user setup module 258 configures thephone via the call manager 42 (block 520). After the user or users areassociated with a phone, the configuration command interface 254determines whether there are remaining phones to be assigned to users(block 514). If there are remaining phones, the configuration commandinterface 254 loops back to determine the assigned users for the nextphone in block 510.

If all the phones associated with the account have been assigned usersand a shared or private designation, the configuration command interface254 accepts the assignment of voicemail boxes to different users foreach phone and the voice mail setup module 260 configures the voice mailvia the call manager 42 (block 522). The configuration command interface254 then accepts the user input of a PIN for each voicemail box from thevoicemail identification set up window 380 in FIG. 6B (block 524). Theconfiguration command interface 254 then accepts the input voice messagefor the mail box from the voicemail message set up window 400 in FIG. 6Cand the voice mail setup module 260 configures the voice mail via thecall manger 42 (block 526). The customer data interface 252 stores themessage in the database server 44 for use by the call manager 42 (block526). The services setup module 262 then configures other featuresand/or services, which have been enabled for the different users, viathe call manager 42 (block 528). The configuration command interface 254determines if there are other voicemail boxes (block 530). If there areother remaining voicemail boxes, the configuration command interface 254loops up to block 522 to assign the next voicemail box. If there are noremaining voicemail boxes, the configuration command interface 254terminates the set up process.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an example processor platform 1000which may be used for the personal computer 58 capable of implementingthe example machine readable instructions illustrated in FIGS. 3-6. Forexample, the processor platform 1000 can be implemented by one or moregeneral purpose microprocessors, microcontrollers, etc. The processorplatform 1000 of the example includes the processor 1012 that is ageneral purpose programmable processor. The processor 1012 executescoded instructions present in a memory 1020 of the processor 1012. Theprocessor 1012 may be any type of processing unit, such as amicroprocessor. The processor 1012 includes a local memory 1014. Theprocessor 1012 may execute, among other things, the example machinereadable instructions illustrated in FIGS. 3-6.

The processor 1012 is in communication with the main memory including aread only memory (ROM) 1020 and/or a RAM 1018 via a bus 1022. The RAM1018 may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory(SDRAM), Dynamic DRAM, and/or any other type of RAM device. The ROM 1020may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type ofmemory device. Access to the memory space 1020 and 1018 is typicallycontrolled by a memory controller (not shown) in a conventional manner.The RAM 1018 may be used by the processor 1012 to implement the memory1020, and/or to store coded instructions 1016 that can be executed toimplement the example machine readable instructions illustrated in FIGS.3-6.

The processor platform 1000 also includes a conventional interfacecircuit 1024. The interface circuit 1024 may be implemented by any typeof well known interface standard, such as an external memory interface,serial port, general purpose input/output, etc. One or more inputdevices 1026 are connected to the interface circuit 1024. One or moreoutput devices 1028 are also connected to the interface circuit 1024.Additional permanent storage may be offered via a mass storage device1030 which may be a hard drive. In the illustrated example, a microphoneor telephony equipment may be part of the input devices 1026.

At least some of the above described example methods and/or apparatusare implemented by logic, such as one or more software and/or firmwareprograms running on a computer processor. However, such logic may alsoinclude dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limitedto, application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arraysand other hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement someor all of the example methods and/or apparatus described herein, eitherin whole or in part. Furthermore, alternative software implementationsincluding, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the examplemethods and/or apparatus described herein.

It should also be noted that the example software and/or firmwareimplementations described herein are optionally stored on a tangiblestorage medium, such as: a magnetic medium (e.g., a magnetic disk ortape); a magneto-optical or optical medium such as an optical disk; or asolid state media such as a memory card or other package that houses oneor more read-only (non-volatile) memories, random access memories, orother re-writable (volatile) memories; or a signal containing computerinstructions. A digital file attached to e-mail or other informationarchive or set of archives is considered a distribution mediumequivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the examplesoftware and/or firmware described herein can be stored on a tangiblestorage medium or distribution medium such as those described above orsuccessor storage media.

To the extent the above specification describes example components andfunctions with reference to particular standards and protocols, it isunderstood that the scope of this patent is not limited to suchstandards and protocols. For instance, each of the standards forInternet and other packet switched network transmission (e.g.,Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP), UserDatagram Protocol (UDP)/IP, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), HyperTextTransfer Protocol (HTTP)) represent examples of the current state of theart. Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or moreefficient equivalents having the same general functionality.Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the samefunctions are equivalents which are contemplated by this patent and areintended to be included within the scope of the accompanying claims.

Additionally, although this patent discloses example systems includingsoftware or firmware executed on hardware, it should be noted that suchsystems are merely illustrative and should not be considered aslimiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of thesehardware and software components could be embodied exclusively inhardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware or in somecombination of hardware, firmware and/or software. Accordingly, whilethe above specification described example systems, methods and articlesof manufacture, persons of ordinary skill in the art will readilyappreciate that the examples are not the only way to implement suchsystems, methods and articles of manufacture. Therefore, althoughcertain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have beendescribed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limitedthereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus andarticles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appendedclaims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.

1. A method for providing a telephone related service allowing atelephone subscriber to configure telephone service for multiple usersat a single location associated with the telephone subscriber, thesingle location having a plurality of telephones, a plurality of phonenumbers and a shared voicemail box, the multiple users each having aunique account identifier, the method comprising: visually providing thetelephone subscriber an option to specify one of the phone numbers toone of the telephones; and visually providing the telephone subscriberan option to assign each of the multiple users exclusive access to atleast one of the telephone numbers via their account identifier.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising visually providing the telephonesubscriber an option to, for each of the multiple users, allow access ordeny access via their account identifier to the shared voicemail box 3.The method of claim 1 further comprising providing an option to thetelephone customer to designate a shared telephone number from the atleast two phone numbers available to each of the multiple users andproviding an option to assign a public voicemail box accessible to eachof the multiple users accessible from the shared telephone number. 4.The method of claim 3 further comprising providing an option to thetelephone customer to assign a private voicemail box accessible to onlyone user, according to their account identifier, to at least one of themultiple users.
 5. The method of claim 3 further comprising providing anoption to the telephone customer for setting a greeting for the publicvoicemail box.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising displayingthe option to the telephone customer of adding a user.
 7. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the options are visually provided by a web browser. 8.The method of claim 1 further comprising visually providing an option tothe telephone customer to route an incoming call to different voicemailboxes via a single phone number.
 9. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising providing an option to the telephone customer to assignmultiple telephone numbers to one of the users.
 10. The method of claim1 further comprising providing an option to the telephone customer toassign a shared designation for one of the phone numbers to allow accessto the phone number to at least two of the multiple users.
 11. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising providing an option to thetelephone customer to allow entry of a description tag for one of thephone numbers.
 12. The method of claim 1 further comprising configuringthe telephone system to assign one of the phone numbers to one of thetelephones, assign each one of the multiple users to exclusively accessone of the telephones and allow or deny access to the voicemail box foreach one of the multiple users in accordance with the options selectedby the telephone customer.
 13. The method of claim 1 further comprisingproviding an option to the telephone customer to allow access toconfigure a telephone service and/or feature for one of the multipleusers.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the option to allow access toconfigure a telephone service and/or feature includes an option to allowthe one of the multiple users to individually configure the telephoneservice and/or feature.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein some of theplurality of phone numbers are telephone numbers associated with mobiletelephones.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein some of the plurality ofphone numbers are telephone numbers associated with land linetelephones.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein some of the plurality ofphone numbers are telephone numbers associated with voice over Internetprotocol (VoIP) telephones.
 18. A graphical user interface to allow atelephone subscriber to configure a telephone system with multiple usersfor a single location associated with the telephone subscriber, thesingle location having at least a plurality of telephones, a pluralityof phone numbers and a shared voicemail box comprising: a numberassignment control graphic to assign one of the phone numbers to atleast one of the multiple users; a user assignment control graphic toassign one of the multiple users exclusive access to at least one of thetelephones; and a voicemail assignment control graphic to allow accessor deny access to the voicemail box for each of the multiple users. 19.The graphical user interface of claim 18 further comprising a sharedtelephone control graphic to select a shared telephone number from theat least two phone numbers and assign the voicemail box to each of themultiple users and make the voicemail box accessible from the sharedtelephone number.
 20. The graphical user interface of claim 19 whereinthe voicemail assignment control graphic provides an option to assign aprivate voicemail box exclusively accessible by one of the multipleusers.
 21. The graphical user interface of claim 18 further comprisingan audio input for setting a greeting for the voicemail box.
 22. Thegraphical user interface of claim 18 wherein the interface is a webbrowser interface.
 23. The graphical user interface of claim 18 furthercomprising a selection control graphic to designate an additional phonenumber and assign the additional phone number to a user.
 24. Thegraphical user interface of claim 18 wherein the number assignmentcontrol graphic includes an option to designate the phone number as ashared line or a private line.
 25. The graphical user interface of claim18 further comprising a selection control graphic to provide an optionto the telephone customer to allow access to configure a telephoneservice and/or feature for one of the multiple users.
 26. The graphicaluser interface of claim 25 wherein the option to allow access toconfigure a telephone service and/or feature includes an option to allowthe one of the multiple users to individually configure the telephoneservice and/or feature.
 27. A method for a telephone customer toconfigure voicemail box service for multiple users, each having anaccount identifier, at a single location associated with the telephonecustomer, the location having at least one telephone and at least twovoicemail boxes, the method comprising: visually providing the telephonecustomer an option to select one of the at least two voicemail boxes;and visually providing the telephone customer an option to allow accessor deny access to the selected one of the at least two voicemail boxesfor each of the selected one of the multiple users based on theiraccount identifier.
 28. An article of manufacture storing machinereadable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to: read atelephone customer account relating to a location having at least twotelephones each having a phone number and a voicemail box; visuallyprovide a telephone customer associated with the telephone customeraccount an option to assign exclusive access for one of a multiplenumber of users, each of the multiple number of users having anindividual account identifier, to a phone number from the at least twophone numbers; and visually provide the telephone customer an option toallow access or deny access to the voicemail box for each of themultiple number of users via their individual account identifier. 29.The article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions ofclaim 28 which when executed further cause the machine to visuallyprovide the telephone customer the option to assign the voicemail box toall of the multiple number of users.
 30. The article of manufacturestoring machine readable instructions of claim 28 which when executedfurther cause the machine to visually provide the telephone customer theoption to share one of the phone numbers among the multiple number ofusers.
 31. The article of manufacture storing machine readableinstructions of claim 28 which when executed further cause the machineto visually provide the telephone customer the option to assign a phonenumber to a second telephone.
 32. The article of manufacture storingmachine readable instructions of claim 28 which when executed furthercause the machine to assign exclusive access for one of a multiplenumber of users, and allow access or deny access to the voicemail boxfor each of the multiple number of users via their individual accountidentifier in accordance with the options selected by the telephonecustomer.
 33. The article of manufacture storing machine readableinstructions of claim 28 which when executed further cause the machineto provide an option to the telephone customer to allow access toconfigure a telephone service and/or feature for one of the multipleusers.